1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to call management, and in particular, relates to methods for barring MT calls and apparatuses using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Users can experience embarrassment when bringing a mobile phone in a quiet region, such as a lecture hall, a cinema, a library, a recording studio, an assembly hall, or others, but the mobile phone sounds a ringtone for an incoming call. There are two ways to prevent the bothersome ringtone. The user may power-down the mobile phone or manually switch the mobile phone to silent mode when seeing a posted notice, watching a reminder video, or hearing a broadcast at a particular place. Although this can avoid the bothersome sound, many users usually forget to turn their mobile phones back on and restore the ring settings, resulting in their potentially missing incoming calls. A mobile phone blocker may be employed at a particular location to interfere with or block radio frequency (RF) signals to cause nearby mobile phones to lose the ability to receive any messages broadcast from a base station. However, the mobile phone blocker bars not only incoming call requests but also other communications signals, causing the mobile phone to be unable to make outgoing calls, receive and send short messages and e-mails, and surf the Internet. In addition, the mobile phone will attempt to increase its power level to search for available cells when camping on no cell, resulting in the unnecessary consumption of battery power and a reduction in the life of the battery.
Therefore, there is a need for technologies that will allow a mobile phone to block only MT call signals but do not affect other communications when entering a particular region, and that cancels the blocking after the mobile phone in question has left the region.